Boulevard Gingerbread Hunt

Boulevard Gingerbread Hunt

Boulevard
STEM Elementary preschool students embarked on a daylong search for the elusive
gingerbread man – a search that led the pint-sized students on an interactive
tour of the Kokomo Area Career Center.

KACC
Paraprofessional Kathleen Rocha-Acosta planned the elaborate mini field trip
for the Boulevard students, with the help of her co-workers at the Kokomo Area
Career Center.

“I have a
wild imagination, and I have always loved seeing kids smile” Mrs. Rocha-Acosta
explained. “When I plan this event, I try to make it educational as well as
fun. The staff here at the Kokomo Area Career Center helps me pull everything
off. Every single staff member in this building has done something to help me.”

Boulevard
preschool teacher Cari Richards and her young scholars began their mini field
trip by making the short walk from Boulevard STEM Elementary School to the
Kokomo Area Career Center. Along the way, the students found, and collected,
pictures of the gingerbread man. The students counted 18 pictures total, which
happened to be their number of the week.

Once inside
the career center, the Boulevard students and their teacher began searching for
the gingerbread man room by room. The preschoolers started in Kellie Cloutier’s
classroom. Although they just missed the gingerbread man, the students had the
opportunity to learn about careers in Criminal Justice by completing a
fingerprinting activity.

The
preschoolers visited seven other classrooms at the Kokomo Area Career Center,
and completed activities in each. Students colored gingerbread men using Adobe
Illustrator in the Graphic Design classroom, while being wowed by a welding
demonstration in Adam Shepherd’s classroom.

Auto Body instructor Richard
Shoffner helped the preschool students paint wooden blocks inside the spray
booth. Students examined the undercarriage of a vehicle in David Lingle’s Auto
Repair classroom. Culinary Arts instructors Shelley Rust and Dan Adams provided
gingerbread cookies for the Boulevard students to decorate and devour.

After lunch, the preschool students
learned the basics of anatomy as they created their own gingerbread skeleton in
Judith Townsend’s Anatomy and Biomedical Science classroom. Veterinary Careers
teacher Lacey Jones taught the Boulevard students about animals as she
introduced them to kittens, a bearded dragon, and a bunny rabbit.

In the final classroom of the day,
Alice McKellar’s Radio and Television Production lab, the Boulevard students
caught the gingerbread man, played by KACC senior Greyson Bolding. Greyson agreed
to return the gifts he swiped if the Boulevard students would sing a song with
him. The preschoolers had the opportunity to record themselves singing Jingle
Bells with the gingerbread man they finally caught.

“This was a very, very cool event
for us,” Ms. Richards explained. “The career center planned wonderful,
age-appropriate activities for my students, who already are thinking about what
they want to do when they grow up. It is important to have this initial
introduction into what professionals do in their jobs, whether we’re talking
about mechanics, graphic designers, or chefs.”

KACC Director Jonathan Schuck
added: “I want to give credit to Kathleen; she had a vision of how she could
connect the preschool students to our programs at the career center. Hopefully
we have given the students a chance to see something at a young age that will
help them build their futures.”

Kokomo School Corporation

1500 S. Washington St, Kokomo, IN 46902

Phone 765-455-8000 | Fax 765-455-8018

Kokomo School Corporation complies with applicable federal civil rights laws and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability, or sex. Kokomo School Corporation does not exclude people or treat them differently because of race, color, national origin, age, disability, or sex.